sun, scooter, booze and 10 speedin'

Sun, scooters, booze and 10-speedin, a lethal mix of fun and speed in sunny Bermuda. The Conyers Dill and Pearman GP kicked off September 23rd with a wicked 45min crit that had $500 and $1000 U.S primes lighting up the action in downtown Hamilton. With teams represented from France, England the U.S and Canada, the pace was fast and furious. Taking the $500 prime with three laps to go Tim Lefebvre was not about to go home empty handed. Winning was Dutchman Harm Jansen the 2004 Superweek champion.
The next day had the riders facing a 700m ITT along a cobbled laneway, with three tight corners and a hill. With only mere seconds to gain, it was purely a spectators delight.

The 105km road race on the Saturday had a moderately hilly course combined with the blazing heat, proving difficult for many. A early breakaway of ten moved clear for half the race with JetFuel's Jeff Hansen represented, but taken out with a flat later on. As the move was brought back two riders a local tri-athlete who represented Bermuda in Athens and a French rider moved clear to eventually seal the day and the two top spots in GC. Tim jumped over the last climb and managed to secure third and some valuable time bonuses to move into the top ten.

The final crit at the Dockyard was a tight sketcky affair with no less than eight corners per lap. The field stayed together with only the time bonuses being contested. In the final gallup, JetFuels train was de-railed as Harm Jansen decided to make Jeff Hansen part of the sidewalk (twice). Tim Lefebvre placed 2nd ahead of his brother Dan with Jeff coasting in for 11th.

Overall the second place moved Tim up to 5th on GC behind the overall winner Travis Butterfield of Bermuda.

The folks in Bermuda know how to throw a final banquet as the riders tasted delicious steaks on the beach under a full moon, warm winds and plenty of Bacardi. If you do one race next year, make it this one!

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it's not over 'till it's over...

Tim and Jeff are extending the season at the Conyers Dill and Perlman Bermuda Grand Prix. We've got word back that Tim's run of form is continuing--he's placed 3rd in the road race stage and sits in the top ten overall. Jeff sent in some pictures.




The guys are they in the company of a few other Ontario riders. This race isn't just about racing, it's about winding down and having some fun as well. We'll get Jeff and Tim to post some stories when the return.

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It's Done!

The cycling season is over, at least for those of us in Canada, making this a funny time of the year. Often there is a heavy sense of relief, followed by a prolonged bout of depression.

In the past the depression was much heavier for me. The end of the season meant that it was time to find a job and start working for the winter; the first a eight hour work day is a shock to the system, and the legs so used to being pampered all summer. Now, though, in my old age (in cycling years at least; who would have thought that I would one day be one of the veterans on the team dolling out advice) I have returned to university; the future is calling and I want to be prepared.

Having to return to classes has taken away the question of "what now" when the season ends, but hasn't really ended the depression. It still rose from the pit pf my stomach to overwhelm me on my return from San Francisco, as I awoke for my first full day of classes, having already missed the first week. At least the pain doesn't last as long as it used to, and now I am doing something "constructive" for when I am done racing.

Not having to ride is a pleasure to be savoured over the next couple of weeks, but soon it will be back to business as usual, piling on the miles to prepare to 2005.

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Corsa Italia Grand Prix

The JetFuel Coffee boys lined up in impressive numbers in anticipation of dominating the 1st Annual Corsa Italia GP. Returning from an impressive and wet 4th place at the Univest road race the previous day was Espoir Provincial champ Ryan Roth. Also tired and sore was team captain Andrew Randell and the Hansen brothers who also made the long trip. Joining in was local resident Stig Somme, Thorben Wiedtz fresh off his 2nd at Multi-Laser and Josh Hall who somehow managed to finish San Fran. Also in attendance was Tim Lefebvre who was eager to prove a thing or two on a course that suited him perfectly, and with a win at Mult-Laser and third in Windsor, he predicted good legs.

Held in Toronto on September 19, the race used part of the classic St. Clair course, that was originally held back in the eighties. Modified, the course had an evil 180 after the finish followed by some tight turns and chicanes, with a long straight false flat into the finish. The Pro 1/2 field lined up, facing 40 laps, totaling 100km.

Under perfect sunny conditions and amidst a healthy Italian crowd, the pace was fast from the gun. Chasing $100 primes every two laps, the Gears, Ital and Midweek teams kept their eyes on the prize, but it was Weidtz and Lefebvre taking the first two and helping a lead break of eight form.

In the eventual winning move we counted four of ours, Randell, Weidtz, Lefebvre and Jeff Hansen, joined by Morse (Midweek), Sanowar (Ital), Pozniak (Gears) and strongmen Darko Ficko and Osmand Bakker. This move succeeded with JetFuel responsible for driving it up the road by thirty seconds. Randell, Hansen and Weidtz worked like a train with Lefebvre sitting on, picking up the $100 primes every two laps. Back in the peleton the Ital train had decided they didn't like the four to one odds and tried a train that ultimately proved no match for men fueled by JetFuel coffee.

Misfortunes begin to strike early as Hansen had a mechanical that removed him from the break, Lefebvre flatted and Weidtz couldn't handle one of Ficko's surges on the home stretch. With only two JetFuel left in the break, the team decided not to pull it any longer and thus let the "attacking" begin. The strength of Ficko and Randell were respected as neither were given any breathing room. With this in mind Lefebvre attacked on lap ten during a lull before the homestretch and pinned the hill as hard as he could go to gain the initial gap. Three laps later holding onto a thirty second lead, a second rear flat sidelined Lefebvre. Confusion reigned as the officials struggled with maintaining the advantage. Eventually Lefebvre was put back in the race with Pozniak, Ficko and Randell now separating themselves from the rest, pursuing the leader.

Gaining time each lap, Tim Lefebvre just days before his 37th birthday, finished alone more than a minute up in front of a very appreciating (and JetFuel friendly) crowd. Taking fourth was Randell with Josh Hall and Stig Somme also in the top ten.

The JetFuel race team would like to take this opportunity to thank the Midweek Club and Peter McCaffery for organizing this great event.

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Flurious three weeks

Testing 1-2-3. The last few weeks have seen a flurry of exciting activity. After an impressive 3rd place overall Andrew packed up with Josh, Matt, Stig, Jeff and Buck for San Francisco. Along for the ride were Neil, Dave, Kevin and Francesca. We stayed with Mark, Alison, Ben, Gavin, Julie, James, Matt and Andrea (to name a few). We had some behind the scenes events and left feeling we'd had a great race. We flew
home.

While one crew was in California, another was in Gananoque, winning Ontario's biggest Stage Race. With a bit of controversey thrown in, but we won't say to much about that. Then, off to Univest went Andrew, Ryan, Matt, Kevin and Neil. We stayed with Mike, Barb and Chip. Liz came up from Philly to help out. Lee couldn't make it, but we had a fun time talking to him on the phone. In a tail end of a hurricane Ryan rode the race of his young career to finish fourth. First North American, behind two seasoned belgians and a man from France. Quick, Quick without a shower or meal off we all went back to Toronto for the innaugural Corsa Italia Criterium. Tim won, Andrew came fourth, Stig and Josh rounded out the top ten.

All in all a busy few weeks that has seen the team collect a couple of significant wins and some podium spots in major events, create and hopefully dispell some controversey. We couldn't ask for a better way to end the year... well we suppose we could do without the controversey.

recap »
Corsa Italia Grand Prix : 1st Tim Lefebrve
Multi-Laser GP: 1st Ryan Roth
Green Mountain Stage Race: 3rd Andrew Randell
Univest Grand Prix: 4th (1st Espoir + North American) Ryan Roth

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GMSR Stage 2 and 3

Stage 2

Having the leader’s jersey meant that there was an expectation that the team would defend my lead; with only four riders we faced a serious shortage of manpower to control the race. The Mad River Race was the toughest of the weekend with three serious climbs, the last of which we finished at the top of.

In our pre-race meeting we agreed on a straightforward strategy. Simply none of us would try to infiltrate the break that was sure to form, I didn’t see much point in having a guy up the road when it came time to lead the chase, and nor would we start the chase until we had ridden over the first KOM. In this way the idea was that the team would be able to stay together, rather than some guys getting dropped on the first KOM, and lead the chase to the base, and hopefully over, the second KOM.
A little disappointing was the lack of racing that happened in the first part of the race. It wasn’t long before a 12man break had formed and started taking lots of time as the field dawdled along at 30km/h sometimes. Still, with all kinds of guys asking us what we were doing and why we weren’t riding on the front, we stuck to our plan.
Over the first KOM the pace was steady, perfect to keep the four Jet Fuel Coffee riders together in order to start the chase. It was here that we got the first time split: six minutes! Coming off the descent the boys, Buck and Matt, along with two riders from Gears who contributed hugely to the chase, Mark Pozniak and Nathan Chown, got organized and proceeded to line the field out in single file. Stig held back from helping the chase at this point in order to lend a hand on the run in to the final climb.
For an hour the guys had everyone single file in the gutter at 45-50km/h. At first I was worried that they wouldn’t be able to hold the pace; often people set too high a tempo to start with and can’t hold it for the length of time necessary, sometimes all day, but the guys kept the rotation going for over 40km.
On the second KOM Stig set a good tempo as Matt and Buck, they’re job done, fell of the pace. At the summit we got our second time check, 5minutes 50seconds! The chase hadn’t taken any time out of the break. Stig and I still bombed the decent off the climb, keeping the chase going.
Now, the other part of the plan for the day came into play. As we were so short on manpower we had no choice but to hope that another team would also take up the task of chasing. The Louis Garneau Team now sent three riders to keep the pace wound up, setting a blistering pace on what seemed like a very long decent.
Running into the last climb the course took a sharp turn up a little hill before hitting a dirt section that lasted somewhere around a kilometer or more and here Stig came to the fore. He stayed there until we came to the base of the very final 2km pitch up to the finish.
With me sitting on his wheel Stig lined the field out again along the dirt section and on the bottom of the last climb. He single handedly controlled the field, setting a hard enough tempo that no even tried to attack us.
Finally, we saw the fruit of our plan blossom as the break of the day was caught with 4km or so to go. Jet Fuel Coffee had pulled off a masterful day tactically, working the chase to perfection and maximizing the use of the manpower that we had.
Unfortunately, after the guys had ridden such a great race I let them down on the climb to the finish line. I blew chunks, bonking and struggling to no end just to finish 16th on the day. That left me in 7th overall, but with the crypt on Monday I still had a chance to make up the points and finish on the overall podium.

1 Mark McCormack (Colavita Olive Oil Pro Cycling Team) 4.29.40
2 Charles Dionne (Webcor Builder) 0.05
3 Peter Baker (Team Snow Valley) 0.12


Stage 3

Burlington was the site of the final stage, a 50km crit held on a tight 6 corner course with a small uphill to the finish. On such a tight course it was necessary to start at the front as there was going to be a huge slinky effect going through all the corners.
From the gun the racing was on and I made sure to stay in the top ten riders where the pace was smooth and easier to follow. After the first points sprint at lap 10 McCormack and Dionne got away from the field, quickly gaining a ten second lead. One after another teams were coming to the front and trying bring the two of them back, to no avail.
I missed an attack of three riders, which included Aaron Olson, that bridged across to McCormack and Dionne. With Olson, a team mate of McCromack’s, up front I knew that the break would push the pace and with no one able to bring them back knew that I would have to bridge up in order to stay in contention for the overall podium.
With the chase continuing I waited for the perfect moment to attack and it presented itself as Buck led the field onto the small climb to the finish. Swinging wide I punched it for all I was worth. Buck saw me coming under his arm and as soon as I was by swung in behind me, effectively shutting down anyone from trying to attack with me.
Trying to get away from the field I had attacked with all my strength but soon realized that I had put too much into the initial surge. Sitting just 20meters off the back of the break I struggled to hold them and inch my way across the gap. All I could think was that if I didn’t make it my race was over so I struggled for all I was worth. My back was hurting, my bars felt all strange and I was clipping my pedal in the corners as I flailed to make contact. I was in dire straights for a few laps but finally made it across. Having spent myself I could do nothing but sit on the back and hope to recover.
Everyone in the break was surprised to find another three riders bridging up to us a few laps later. Mark Pozniak, who had been so impressive in helping with the chase the day before, had made the split and was working well to keep the break clear.
We had a good 15 to 20 seconds on the field, enough to be out of sight in any of the straight-aways and stay away for the finish. Scott Zwizanski of Ofoto launched a bunch of good attacks in the last few laps, but in the end it came down to a sprint with Dionne coming out the winner.
I had made the break of the day and garnered enough points to make it back up into the 3rd on GC. Jet Fuel Coffee had had an outstanding weekend. Not only in terms of the actual results garnered but also in the way that we were able to ride so well as a team. Everything was coming together for San Francisco.


Stage 3

1 Charles Dionne (Webcor Builder) 1.08.18
2 Mark Mccormack (Colavita Olive Oil Pro Cycling Team)
3 Scott Zwizanski (Ofoto Cycling Team)
5 Andrew Randell (Jet Fuel Coffee)


Final Overall

1 Mark Mccormack (Colavita Olive Oil Pro Cycling Team) 391 pts
2 Charles Dionne (Webcor Builder) 369
3 Andrew Randell (Jet Fuel Coffee) 309
4 Peter Hult (Fiordifrutta) 298
5 Aaron Olson (Colavita Olive Oil Pro Cycling Team) 297
6 Dominique Perras (Ofoto-Lombardi Sports) 292
7 Peter Baker (Team Snow Valley) 288
8 Dan Cassidy (Fiordifrutta) 286
9 Joshua Dillon (Louis Garneau Racing) 261
10 Chris Brennan (JDR/Trek/VW) 256

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GMSR Prologue & Stage 1

As final preparation for the T-Mobile International in San Francisco on the 12th the Jet Fuel team headed down to Vermont to compete in the Green Mountain Stage Race. A hilly few days of racing was just the prep we needed and the racing started off with a bang. The GMSR is run on a points system and so is a little different from most stage races. On a points system it pretty much means that you need to finish up towards the front on every stage to stay in contention.

Prologue

The first day was a 13km mass start hill-climb prologue, ending on a steep 2km pitch on which I rode a 26 cog. With such a steep finish the goal was to try and not tax yourself too much and be out of steam come the steep section, but as it was mass start you had to try and stay in contact with the leaders. Rolling into the climb the fight for wheels was fierce; with the yellow line rule in effect I was throwing some elbows to stay up front.
On hitting the climb I was riding well up and felt that the tempo was well within my limit. It wasn’t until the last kilometre that I really started to suffer. After all the talk of making sure not to over do it before the last steep bit I ended up overcooking myself a bit; as we hit one kilometre to go Dominique Perras attacked and I tried to follow. Until that point I had been comfortable pushing my upper limit. Holding the best tempo that I could guys slowly started to trickle by me.
In the last 500m the climb levels out and it was funny because I thought that I would put on a burst of speed there, throw the bike into the big ring you know. Well I got it into the 53x17 but was soon pushing the lever to get up on the 23 again and just at the limit.
While it would have been nice to finish a little higher I was really happy with how much I had pushed myself; for much of the last 2km or so I was pushing 185 beats on the heart rate monitor, which for me is super high.

1 Dominique Perras (Ofoto-Lombardi Sports) 29.45.7
2 Mark McCormack (Colavita Olive Oil Pro Cycling Team) 0.02.7
3 Todd Herriott (Colavita Olive Oil Pro Cycling Team) 0.11.9
8 Andrew Randell (Jet Fuel Coffee) 0.24.8
14 Stig Somme (Jet Fuel Coffee) 0.36.7

Stage 1

A 116km, 4 lap, circuit race with a decent climb and a couple of small rollers was the setting for Saturday’s stage. This was one of the stages that Buck and I had discussed as a day for him to target and he definitely rode to impress.
Racing started out fast and aggressive from the gun and for much of the first lap the peloton was strung out. Towards the end of the lap I countered a move that had been hard for the field to bring back. My legs were feeling the burn as I wasn’t fully warmed up yet and it only got worse as we were brought back coming into the base of the climb. That was a mistake I wouldn’t be making again.
It wasn’t until the third lap that things really got interesting. The team had missed a good sized break that moved away on the run in to the climb and we were all up towards the front looking to get across. Up the climb the tempo was high but coming to the top the peloton slowed once again. In the interests of keeping the pack animated I did a light attack up the side, which provoked the response I wanted as Colavita chased me back. Catching me the pack slowed once again, ballooning as riders put on their breaks, and from the middle burst Buck. Carrying all his speed Buck hit the decent and chased across to the break in once smooth move, a perfect display of teamwork.
The break stayed just ahead and was soon being brought to heal once again, just as we were coming up a long uphill drag. In my mind I was urging Buck to counter and what do I see up ahead? Buck putting his head down and forging up the road with a few guys. It wasn’t to be though and everyone was together for the last climb. Dominique and Charles Dionne put in some heavy attacks towards the top of the main climb, but with a long decent afterwards they weren’t going anywhere.
My plan coming into the last lap was to try and attack on the long drag where we had caught Buck’s break, from there it was 5km or so to the finish. It looked like my plan was to be ruined though when the commissaries came up and neutralized the race. They had decided to slow us down as we were in danger of lapping the women’s field. The race only came back on a kilometre or two before the climb I wanted to attack on and I didn’t think that there would be enough tired legs in order to get away. Luckily for me a hole opened as the pack slowed on hitting the climb and as Buck had done I launched myself full-speed off the front. Jamming up the drag I pulled away from the pack, Joe Papp glued to my wheel. He wouldn’t pull through as he had a rider just up ahead of us so I put my head down and drove the pace. In the end Papp helped me get across to his team mate and four of us formed up into a break to try and ride to the finish.
With the pack just 30seconds or so back there wasn’t much room for finessing and we all rode hard to get to the line. In the last kilometre I was starting to think that we might get caught and decided to attack the break with 500m to go. Drifting off the back a little I wound up my bike and shot past the guys as hard as I could go. I never looked to see if anyone got my wheel but just concentrated on driving to the line. Papp came past me with 20 meters to go and there was nothing I could do. Matt told me that from the peloton he could see that it was a long drag race to the line as Papp tried to get onto my wheel after my attack. Second on the day was pretty good and to my surprise I ended up getting the race leader’s jersey as well.

1 Joseph Papp (America's Cycling Team - UPMC) 2.48.25
2 Andrew Randell (Jet Fuel Coffee)
3 Eneas Freyre (Americas Cycling Team) 0.03
7 Kevin Miller (Jet Fuel Coffee) 0.06

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